11 - Conclusions

Summary

The contents of this book show that a great deal has been happening at the interface of psychology and law. Especially since the 1980s, major advances have been made in our knowledge of a broad range of issues and the influence of psychology and law has been a two-way process. The maturity of legal psychology as a discipline in its own right and its contributions to society, both diverse and significant, are of special interest in view of a number of impediments in the process of bridging the gap between psychology and law.

As legal psychology continues to evolve, the indications are that psycholegal researchers are more cognisant than they used to be of the need to use a range of research methods and to conduct research that is ecologically valid. Of course, however forensically relevant research might be, ‘there is always some risk when generalising from scientific studies to real world analogs’ (Bruck and Ceci, 1995:309).

The discussion of empirical studies in the preceding chapters also shows that legal psychology's advances are more evident in some areas than in others and some summits still wait to be conquered. As Kadane (1993) has noted, there is undoubtedly an imbalance in the amount of attention psychologists have paid to different areas within law and legal processes. This imbalance probably reflects the fact that: (a) some issues are more amenable to study by the experimental method (psychologists' preferred method); and (b) the contemporary sociolegal climate in a country is such as to make some research topics the focus of psycholegal researchers' attention.